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May 1st, 2011
At the time of this writing, Yemen’s domestic political situation remains unstable and potentially violent. From the northern city of Sa’dah to the southernmost port of ‘Aden, over 120 civilians have been killed in recent protests. Thousands have... -
May 1st, 2011
In the nine years since the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, many Westerners have come to view Islam (in all of its modes and refractions) as a religion associated with violence and terrorism, and to speak of Muslims living in the West... -
March 22nd, 2011
The “Shock and Awe” of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions have taken the world by storm. Beginning as uprisings against corrupt regimes and calling for “food, freedom and human dignity,” these movements brought about the toppling of two... -
March 22nd, 2011
Muslim and Arab women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have long been regarded by ‘the West’ as silent, exotically ‘unseen’, or mere echoes of the paternalistic regimes under which they were believed to live. Particularly after the... -
March 13th, 2011
Throughout the Middle East, dictators who looked to be safely ensconced in power have either been overthrown by their people or found themselves in the midst of popular protests that seriously threaten their rule. The countries of the oil-rich... -
March 13th, 2011
Recent calls for political change across the Middle East and North Africa have come hand in hand with demands for legal reform and, in many cases, with calls to hold deposed leaders and regime elites, who have long-acted with impunity in their... -
March 6th, 2011
Shocked by the recent events that have rocked a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa, American media outlets and analysts have been thrown into a state of disarray and have been struggling to describe the on-going developments.... -
March 5th, 2011
As protests continue to sweep across the region, large-scale demonstrations in the Shiite majority Gulf state of Bahrain represent a serious, direct challenge to the more than 200-year rule of the country’s ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa family. Sparked by... -
March 4th, 2011
Calls for international intervention to end the conflict in Libya have come from across the political spectrum and have even included Libyan voices, such as the country’s delegation to the United Nations. These calls, especially on the part of... -
March 2nd, 2011
In the Arab World, 2011 is developing into the year of revolution. Following the dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt, a chain reaction has exposed the region’s autocratic regimes to popular pressure like never before. Whatever the outcome of... -
February 28th, 2011
Long before the recent upheavals in Egypt, there were hints that change in the country was in the works. In August 2009, Michael Slackman of The New York Times published an article entitled “Hints of Pluralism in Egyptian Religious... -
February 25th, 2011
Towards the end of the first iteration of the Green Movement, when the beatings came more freely and the regime had let loose the security forces, I found myself seeking shelter with a group of protestors inside one of the many suit shops that line... -
February 24th, 2011
For people like myself who study political repression and how states engage with political opposition in contentious politics in the Middle East, the past few weeks have been remarkable. The amount of information and images constantly... -
February 23rd, 2011
The collapse of the Soviet Union represented a tremendous success for the West, particularly the United States, whose encouragement of Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev’s economic, social, and political reforms helped accelerate the country... -
February 22nd, 2011
No government can stay in power despite the people…Therefore I’m asking you to listen to the people’s voice and their uttermost humane demands. Welcome the will of the nation for change without any hesitation.” So said Turkey’s Prime Minister,... -
February 20th, 2011
The winds of change blowing through the Arab world have provided the Lebanese with a well-deserved respite from the demagoguery and continuous tussle over the reins of power. However, as many tuned into Al-Jazeera for informed and constant... -
| February 20th, 2011
“Look what is happening/Miseries everywhere, Mr. President/I talk with no fear/Although I know I will get only trouble/I see injustices everywhere.” These lyrics from the song “Rais Lebled,” by young Tunisian rapper El Général, embody the... -
February 15th, 2011
Never has a revolution that seemed so lacking in prospects gathered momentum so quickly and so unexpectedly. The Egyptian Revolution, starting on January 25, lacked leadership and possessed little organization; its defining events, on Friday,...
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February 15th, 2011
The recent protests by economically and politically disenfranchised youth in Tunisia, Egypt and Algeriaprovide a chilling warning about the potential consequences of the on-going political problems facing Yemen. With its lack of political...
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January 2nd, 2011
A few years ago, a Chinese engineer was kidnapped as he drove along the main road linking Yemen’s two major cities, Sana’a and Aden. After some investigation, it turned out that the kidnappers had come from a bee-keeping tribe. Unknown to most,...
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January 2nd, 2011
On November 25, 2010, three days before the first round of parliamentary elections in Cairo, I was in one of the city’s most elite nightclubs. There, groups of 20- and 30-somethings drank imported liquor, danced, and behaved as if they hadn’t a...
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December 28th, 2010
The summer of 2008 brought the usual blistering heat to Pakistan. President Pervez Musharraf, an army general who had become president through a coup d’etat eight years earlier, led by edict in a country little used to democracy and often subject...
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December 28th, 2010
With the Israeli government increasingly unwilling to make necessary compromises to restart peace talks and the United States reticent to push it and its powerful domestic allies towards making such concessions, many commentators are wondering...
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December 17th, 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama came to office with a bold agenda on Iran, intending to set his Administration apart from both his predecessor, George W. Bush, as well as Hillary Clinton, his Democratic challenger in the 2008 Presidential elections....
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December 6th, 2010
In September of this year, King Abdullah of Jordan appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. While the Daily Show may seem like an unlikely venue for a Middle Eastern...
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December 6th, 2010
Recent Al-Qaeda-related events out of Yemen have once again put security and counter-terrorism concerns at the forefront of Western strategies towards the country. On the ground, this has involved a heavy focus on intelligence and security at the...
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November 22nd, 2010
I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan during the good years, in the early seventies. Among my fondest memories is walking to and from school holding the hand of my stylish mother who was then a French teacher at Lycee Malalai where I was in the...
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November 16th, 2010
On September 29, 2010, President Obama issued an Executive Order, imposing “human rights” sanctions against members of the Iranian government . Targeting Iranian operatives involved in quelling protests following the June 2009...
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November 8th, 2010
Nasr October, or the ‘October Victory’, has come to occupy a central role in Egypt’s modern historiography. The term refers to the War of 1973, when Egypt launched a surprise-attack against Israel on October 6 and successfully crossed the Bar...
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November 3rd, 2010
In a 1996 interview with 60 Minutes, Madeline Albright, then Secretary of State under Bill Clinton, was asked about the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iraq. Implemented in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the sanctions had crippled Iraq’s...
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October 26th, 2010
The young, good-looking Mohammed VI ascended to the Moroccan throne in 1999, in a changing political climate. Throughout the 1990s, the monarchy had slowly begun dismantling the autocratic state that had previously existed. Mohammed VI seemed the...
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October 25th, 2010
The Oslo Accords were pronounced dead in some quarters well before Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s funeral in 2004. Six years later, however, questions persist about who is responsible for their demise. Did Arafat kill Oslo? ...
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October 25th, 2010
Ali Ahmadi Motlagh (AM): How would you characterize the state of the Iranian economy? What are the most significant challenges currently faced by the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Kaveh Ehsani (KE): The economy of Iran is in a deep recession,...
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October 18th, 2010
When discussing the current state of Iran’s economy, commentators, activists, politicians, and the U.S. government all seem to agree on the massive role played by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Stanford University Professor Abbas...
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October 18th, 2010
Today, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is experiencing an internal dilemma. Long viewed as the “legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian People”, many years of failed negotiations with the Israeli government, a...
Muftah Org
Profile
Founded by a Brown alum, Muftah is an online foreign policy magazine featuring commentary and analysis on the Middle East and North Africa from rising scholars and experts on the region. Muftah provides information and insight into the internal dynamics, indigenous concerns, and domestic influences that shape this often misunderstood part of the world. In doing so, Muftah's goal is to move U.S. foreign-policy dialogue away from an exclusively U.S.-centric model, in the belief that such a shift will ultimately benefit U.S. government approaches toward the region.
